


late nights and tea

by irish_gold



Series: drabbles [11]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Gen, Late Night Conversations, Late at Night, M/M, but not really, there are mentions of the others
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 00:08:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11263881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irish_gold/pseuds/irish_gold
Summary: after years of an indefinite hiatus, the one direction boys come back, only this time louis can't seem to fall asleep.





	late nights and tea

**Author's Note:**

> I've been struggling to write the next chapter of my story so I decided to fill a prompt that was sent to me months ago. I'm sorry if its terrible, I wrote it in half an hour. enjoy and feedback is always appreciated. x

They’re older now, late night hours were no longer spent awake with the rush of adrenaline that they once did. Back in the early years of One Direction, the end of a concert only meant the beginning of a party, either back in the hotel or the quick drive to the nearest club. But they’re not young anymore. And staying up past one in the morning was a laughable thought.

 

Or at least that’s what Louis thought it’d be like returning on tour with the boys, the  _ lads _ , but after the third show of their new tour and the digital numbers shone a bright  _ three fifty-five am _ Louis can’t believe that he’s not tired yet. No, well, he  _ is  _ tired. But he just  _ can’t _ fall  _ asleep _ .

 

_ Fucking uncomfortable pillows,  _ Louis grumpily thought to himself after he’d changed the position of his pillow for the hundredth time that hour. He forgot how bloody uncomfortable the pillows could be on the tour bus. 

 

_ Or maybe you’re old bones can only handle temperpedic beds. Old man.  _ He thought to himself again.

 

Letting out an aggravated sigh, Louis willed himself out of the bunk and onto the vibrating floor in between the rest of the bunks. The curtains were pulled forward on all the bunks, and Liam’s loud snoring was clear indication that Louis was the only one bothered by the  _ damned  _ bunk beds. 

 

Pulling up his sweats, he decided to make himself some tea, nothing could soothe him better than a steaming cup of tea.

 

Louis tried his best to walk through the dark tour bus, only occasionally tripping over someone’s shoe (read: Louis’ shoe). He’d barely made it past the seating area when--

 

“Tommo!” Niall whisper yelled from inside the room.

 

Flinching noticeably, Louis turned to where Niall’s voice came from, and there he was, in all his half-naked glory, sitting on the sofa with a guitar balanced on his lap and a shit-eating grin, in the dark.

 

“Bloody fuck. Niall what are you sittin’ in the dark for? It’s creepy as fuck!” Louis exclaimed. He squinted his eyes, trying to get a better look at him. Returning as a band, he thought it would be like learning to live with three other strangers again, it’d been years since they lived all together in a cramped area like the tour bus. Louis was expecting to have to learn all the ticks and twitches of each member once again. And whilst Liam and Harry showed obvious differences, Niall never really changed, sure his hair was brown and the chest hair had grown significantly (it looked like a nasty rug now or in Niall’s words a  _ sexy rug _ ), but his smile never changed. He could light up a room with a grin, whether it be five years ago or now. 

 

Niall cackled from his seat before saying, “Couldn’t sleep so I came here… Didn’t want to wake you lads or anything. But… I didn’t do a good job, I see.” Louis rolled his eyes at him and turned to face the side of the bus, moving his hands along the wall he let out a triumphant “Aha!” when he found the light switch.

 

Turning back, Louis went to sit next to Niall, who was really wearing the bare minimum, only white boxer briefs to cover his private bits. “You really are the slag of the band, fooling everyone, making them think it’s Harry, when in reality you’re out here only in your briefs.” He commented, pushing Niall’s shoulder and then adding, “Nah, you didn’t wake me. Couldn’t stop me brain from thinking.” 

 

They both sat in silence, the only sounds coming from the vibrating moving bus.

 

That brief moment of silence was quickly dissipated by Niall fumbling with the strings of his guitar. He set the instrument correctly on his lap and started playing a quick tidbit with the strings.

 

“What happened to not waking up the lads?” Louis asked staring at his bandmate whose nervous ticks reflected so brightly, from the way he picked at the edge of his briefs to the way he pinched a string prior to playing the instrument. 

 

Niall shrugged, “The feckers deserve to be awake. If I can’t sleep, why should they?” he said jokingly, flashing a smirk over the guitar. 

 

Louis listened quietly to Niall playing, trying to figure out what tune he was playing, but before he could Niall would switch up the tune and played completely different set of chords.

 

“I’ll make us some cuppa then.” Louis said.

 

When the call had come, the one from  _ the _ Simon Cowell and later a string of emails all from the same email chain “ _ Subject: LAds Idas Lad$”  _ Louis knew just what it was about. And he would be lying if he said he hadn’t felt a twist of excitement at the bottom of his gut.

 

And sure, it took months just to plan the comeback, but it was all worth it when the four of them returned to a single couch and they were heavily styled on before placed in front of bright shining lights and they proclaimed to a camera “Hi, we’re One Direction!” Like they were nineteen/twenty and not thirty-two and thirty-three.

 

The comeback was a rush that led them straight to stadium tours in front of thousands of people. 

 

And Louis was back with his lads. 

 

They came back like nothing had ever ended, like there weren’t years of difference from being together. The  _ fans  _ came back like the boys hadn’t gone on that indefinite hiatus. It was like nothing had changed, the only difference now were the thicker frames and the added years of age that took its toll on all of them, one way or another.

 

He poured the boiling water and prepared the cup:  _ milk _ ,  _ no sugar _ (for both of them because Louis refused to ruin a perfectly good cuppa with sugar.)

 

He balanced the two cups in both hands a bag of crisps under his armpit, walking back to the seating area Niall was still bare on the couch hunched over the guitar just like before. Louis stomped over to Niall and handed over the mug, getting a grunt in thank you. 

 

Louis plumped down on the sofa, where he’d originally sat, and sighed in relief, “This is fucking bitter.” Niall commented after taking a sip of the tea. 

 

Louis hid his grin behind the mug. 

 

(Niall had always been his favorite to hang around with in the middle of the night. They’d sit for hours nestling drinks in their hands that eventually dripped onto their laps and just  _ existed  _ around each other without talking or doing anything in particular. But he wouldn’t tell anyone that. 

 

Least of all, Niall.)

 

They sat in silence once more, he glanced around the lit room, taking in all the memorabilia they collected in just the span of a week, when he felt Niall’s soft hand wrap around his bicep and squeeze for just a moment. 

 

“We’re finally back.” 


End file.
